Betsy Andreu, whose evidence helped expose Lance Armstrong’s doping, has
ridiculed his claim that his ex-wife Kristin made him promise not to take
drugs on his Tour de France comeback in 2009.

Armstrong insists he was ‘clean’ when he returned to the Tour in 2009 and 2010, and told Oprah Winfrey he only decided to proceed with the comeback after seeking Kristin’s approval.

Arsmtrong said: “She was the one person I asked if I could do that, if I could come back.

“It was a big decision. I needed her blessing. And she said to me, you can do it, under one condition, that you never cross that line again [the line of drugs], and I said you’ve got a deal and I never would have betrayed that with her. I gave her my word and I’ll stick to it.”

The World Anti-Doping Agency has ridiculed Armstrong’s claim he did not dope in 2009 and 2010, pointing to the results of multiple blood tests which suggest he did. And yesterday, Andreu, the wife of Armstrong’s former team-mate Frankie Andreu, was scathing about Armstrong and the role of his ex-wife.

Referring to evidence gathered by the US Anti-Doping Agency officials who uncovered Armstrong’s cheating, Andreu said: “Didn’t she [Kristin] stuff money in a Chanel jacket and drugs were hidden in the baby carriage?”

“I have a real problem with this, it couldn’t have been easy living with Lance, but she distributed drugs. A lot of women there [on the Tour] loved the lifestyle and obviously Lance and Kristin were making a lot of money and a lot of women loved the money and didn’t care. They loved the Louis Vuitton handbags and the Cartier sunglasses.”

Kristin Armstrong was married to Armstrong from 1998 to 2003 and they have three children. She has chosen not to speak publicly about Armstrong’s doping or her own involvement as depicted in the Usada evidence, beyond releasing a statement in October in which she distanced herself from his “choices”.

She wrote: “To the world, Lance may be a source of admiration or suspicion, but to me he is simply my ‘wasband’ and the father of my children. His choices were, and are, his.”

Andreu, who says she first heard Armstrong confess to doping in 1996 and who has played a key role in his downfall, was withering about the second part of his interview with Winfrey.

“Boohoo,” she told CNN, after Armstrong spoke of the toll inflicted on his family. “He’s not getting it. What about Greg LeMond’s bike company that was completely destroyed? It doesn’t make sense. What about Scott Mercier not having a career? Christophe Bassons not having a career? Other guys who didn’t want to do what he wanted them to do not having a career?

“You can’t put a price on opportunity lost and we’re not even talking millions of dollars, we’re just talking about people who just want to make a living so they can pay a mortgage.”

“He hurt the sport of cycling. He caused it irreparable damage. I hope that he will testify to Usada and tell the truth, and the right thing can be done.

“It can’t be underestimated how much he has hurt people and I don’t think he really understands the emotional toll, the mental toll, the financial toll. But he has to pay the price, some way, somehow.”

Andreu also said that when Armstrong contacted her and husband Frankie recently, he seemed more genuine than he appeared in the Winfrey interview.

“When Frankie and I spoke with him we felt that he was sincere and he was genuine,” said Andreu. “The way he was on the phone with us was far different to how he’s portraying himself on TV.”